Grind schools top college 'feeder' list

One of the country's biggest so-called 'grind' schools has topped the league in the number of its Leaving Certificate students…

One of the country's biggest so-called 'grind' schools has topped the league in the number of its Leaving Certificate students who have gone on to university.

The Dublin-based Institute of Education had some 780 Leaving Certificate candidates in its sixth year class, bigger than the total enrolement in many second level schools, according to figures published today.

The table of 'feeder' schools to the universities shows that grind and fee-paying schools continue to dominate the tables.

The college entry figures cover enrolments in five of the country's seven universities and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI).

READ MORE

The universities featuring in the lists are University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin City University (DCU), National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM) and University of Limerick (UL) .

Of the first year students enrolled at UCD this academic year, some 254 (6 per cent) sat the Leaving Certificate at the Institute of Education. Fifth and sixth year pupils pay €6,350 per year to attend the institute.

In terms of numbers, the next on the list is the fee-paying Blackrock College, which sent 96 students to UCD.

TCD enrolled 113 students who sat the Leaving Certificate in the Institute of Education. A total of 33 students went to TCD from the fee-paying St Andrew's in Booterstown, Dublin.

The figures are published today in the Irish Independent